Third Annual CISRS Instructors Conference

The third annual CISRS Instructors Conference took place on the 17th September, at the Birches conference centre, National Construction College East, Bircham Newton, Kings Lynn.

The event was heralded a success by CISRS scheme management and the 40+ delegates in attendance.

The conference was chaired by Scheme Manager, Dave Mosley who spoke on CISRS standardisation particularly in relation to the recent changes to the Part 2 training package, CPD for Scaffolders, which is to be introduced in 2017. He also faced an open Q&A session at the conclusion of the conference fielding a series of questions from the instructors, leading to an open exchange of dialogue on scaffold training and the CISRS scheme.

CISRS Scheme Manager, Dave Mosley said: “As with previous events, there was some lively debate and difference of opinion on some issues – but I do think having these conversations is an important thing to do.

“The instructors are running these courses week in week out, so it is essential we get together, hear what they have to say and try to give clear guidance of how we wish everyone to move forward in a way that is beneficial to both those attending courses and the instructors themselves.”

Other speakers at the conference included: Ex-NASC President and CISRS representative, Bob Whincap who covered CISRS scheme rules and instructor responsibilities. Tony Barry (Senior Instructor at NCC Midlands), who previewed the work carried out so far by the CISRS standardisation Group on the Advanced programme and Simian Risk Management Limited MD and Temporary Works Forum member,Simon Hughes. He discussed how temporary works procedures can apply to the scaffolding sector and plans to introduce more information surrounding this topic into the CISRS training scheme.

Simon Hughes said: “We used my presentation as a workshop exercise where we asked each group to consider the core courses in the scheme and list the areas of temporary works that should be included in each course. We divided the room into four groups with a spokesperson for each group feeding their recommendations back to the conference for further feedback. The recommendations from the conference will form the basis of the Temporary Works module we are developing for each course, with appropriate content focused towards the learner.”

David John Adams, Lead Instructor at CISRS training centre AIS said: “It was my first time attending the conference and I thought it was very good. The Friday evening was more of a social event and gave me a chance to talk to other instructors in a relaxed atmosphere. As AIS has only recently received Part 2 accreditation it was interesting to hear questions raised by other centres around delivery of these courses. The conversations that followed were very open and will help me to avoid any potential issues in future Part 2 courses.”